THE FITNESS OR otherwise of Leo Cullen has been a bone of contention since Declan Kidney named his Six Nations squad yesterday.
The Leinster captain was included in Ireland’s 24 man squad, despite speculation that he would require surgery on his Achilles tendon.
Today, Cullen faced the media ahead of Leinster’s final pool game of the Heineken Cup to clear matters up.
The second row is feeling stiffness in both ankles and surgery is needed if the problem is to be rectified. However, he will not make a final decion on whether, or not, to go ahead with the surgery until after this Saturday’s final pool game against Montpelier at the RDS.
Coach Joe Schmidt also revealed that Luke Fitzgerald and Jonathan Sexton were both major doubts for the game. Fitzgerald missed last weeekend’s trip to Glasgow with neck and glute muscle strains, but Sexton played a full 80 minutes despite suffering a ankle knock in the first half.
Should the pair miss out then Ian Madigan is likely to deputise at fly-half while David Kearney or Andrew Conway will be vying for a Fitzgerald’s vacated wing place.
